


Comfort

by bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: 5x07, Ace Chemicals, Baby BatCat, BatCat, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Tag, Episode: s05e07 Ace Chemicals, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-11-03 17:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17882267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid/pseuds/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid
Summary: I really really enjoyed the latest episode of Gotham! I just really wanted a little bit more comfort for our baby Bruce. He had to relive the most traumatic moment of his life under the twisted lens of Jeremiah. So I expanded the ending scene with Bruce and Selina in the hospital to include lots of comfort and fluff :-)





	Comfort

“Selina, you’ve done enough,” Bruce said and Selina could tell that he was being 100% sincere. A while back he had told her that he should’ve done more the night his parents were murdered. He had been a terrified kid who had a gun pointed at him, but still, he’d thought he could’ve done something to save his parents. Yet here he was now, absolving her of her own guilt for not doing more. Selina knew that logically she couldn’t have stopped his parents from getting shot, but she could’ve come forward sooner. Maybe if she’d told Jim Gordon everything she’d seen, he would’ve been able to get an early lead. That was something that she regretted deeply.

But Selina didn’t say any of this to Bruce. What’s in the past was in the past. She had been a scared kid in her own right and had just been trying to survive. She had made a decision in that moment and now she had to live with it. 

Selina turned to study Bruce and he met her eyes with a small smile. He had been through a lot that day and she could see the sadness of it in his eyes. Selina knew that he had his most traumatic memories dredged up and relived tonight. Even with someone with Bruce's emotional resilience, something like that was bound to cause some lasting effects.

Because he was being so kind to her and because he looked so sad, Selina gave in to the urge to wrap her arms around him. She turned and slipped her arms around his middle in a tight embrace. Bruce stiffened and hesitated for only a split second before wrapping his arms around her as well. She leaned against his chest and allowed herself to enjoy the moment. He smelled like dust and chemicals, but underneath all of that, he still smelled like the Bruce she had known since they were kids.

After a few more moments, Selina forced herself to draw back. When Bruce pulled away, she noticed the smallest of winces. She suddenly remembered how Jeremiah had cut Bruce on the arm in order to get away. She looked at the sleeve of his coat and saw that the area that was ripped was covered in blood. Selina hadn’t noticed it at first because of the darkness of the coat.

“Bruce, you should get that looked at,” Selina said as she looked around the room for a nurse or a doctor. She wasn’t exactly surprised when there was no one in sight. The hospital had a ghost staff at the best of times, but right now it was practically the middle of the night.

“It’s fine, I’ll clean it up later,” Bruce shrugged off her concern.

“At least let Alfred look at it,” Selina pushed, not sure exactly why she cared. It was only a cut on his arm, Bruce had been put through a lot worse. Maybe it was the vulnerable look in his eyes that made her not want him to suffer through any more pain.

She was slightly surprised when Bruce shook his head. He had never before refused medical treatment from his Butler.

“Alfred is in the room next door. He was kidnapped for days, hypnotized, and then injured when Wayne Manor blew up. He’s been through enough,” Bruce said in a flat tone. Selina, who hadn’t know all of that, blinked in surprise. While she’d been off fooling around with the Penguin, Alfred had been suffering the torment of Jervis and Jeremiah.

“I didn’t realize, I’m sorry,” She said, and she meant it. She and Alfred might not get along at all times, but she respected the man and would never wish him any harm. Plus, she knew how much he meant to Bruce. The poor kid must've been worried sick.

“No worries,” Bruce waved off her apology. “Can we go sit in the hall or something?” He said suddenly, looking at Jeremiah with an almost nervous expression.

“Yeah, he may be good as brain dead, but he’s still creepy,” Selina agreed easily. She let Bruce walk out first and when he wasn’t looking she grabbed a few medical supplies off of the Nurse’s stand.

When she got out into the hall, Bruce was slumped on a bench, leaning against the wall with his eyes half closed. He looked absolutely exhausted and Selina almost felt bad for disturbing him. Almost.

“Okay, off with it,” Selina said, gesturing to his long coat. Bruce opened up his eyes fully but didn’t move. “You thought I forgot,” Selina said with a smile, holding up the bandages in her hand. “Now take off that coat.”

Bruce looked at her with that serious gaze of his for a few moments and Selina started to think that he was just going to ignore her. But then he sighed, leaned forward. and struggled out of his coat, wincing slightly as he did. Selina let out a sigh of her own when he revealed a sweater with a button-up underneath.

“How did he even manage to cut you through all of those layers?” Selina asked. “You are going to have to take those off too so I can clean your cut.”

“Selina, really, this isn’t necessary. It’s fine,” Bruce protested. Selina didn’t say anything, she just planted her hands on her hips and fixed him with a look. Bruce rolled his eyes but started to wrestle with his sweater.

“Here, let me help,” Selina said, taking a step towards him.

“I got it,” He bit back, clearly in pain.

“Don’t be a doofus,” She said and went over to him. She helped him gently remove his injured arm from his sweater. Then, before he could protest, she started unbuttoning the stupid collared shirt he had on underneath. All of the fight went out of Bruce as he leaned back against the wall and let her help.

Selina peeled off his shirt and revealed a torso covered in bruises. She let out a small breath and Bruce closed his eyes with a sigh.

“Jeremiah got in a few punches,” He said by way of explanation. 

Selina said nothing more as she turned her attention to the cut on his upper arm. The cut didn’t look too deep so he could probably get away without stitches. She did want to make sure to clean it really well though. There was no telling what was on the knife that Jeremiah had cut him with.

Bruce didn’t move a muscle as she cleaned his wound with her borrowed supplies. The way he was holding himself let her know that he was in pain and trying to hide it. She cleaned off the blood and dirt and quickly as she could. Then she carefully wrapped his arm in some bandages.

“Thanks,” Bruce muttered when he realized she was done. He opted to just put his sweater back on, he pulled it on himself when she went to throw away the bloody cloth. Selina came back and settled herself next to him on his uninjured side, sitting close enough so that their shoulders brushed.

After a while of sitting in silence, Selina snuck a glance sideways at Bruce who had his eyes closed and was leaning against the wall. She thought he might be asleep and considered trying to sneak away.

As if he could sense her looking at him, Bruce opened his eyes and murmured, “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it, kid.”

“No, I mean thanks for still being here, thanks for sticking around,” Bruce’s voice was so soft she had to concentrate to make out the words.

“I’ll always be here when you need it,” Selina said, but she was thinking about the deal she had made with Oswald and then Barbra to get off the island. She was currently here instead of helping Barbra kill the Penguin, which probably meant that their deal was off, but Selina was starting to think that her true place was in Gotham anyway.

“I should check on Alfred,” Bruce said tiredly.

“He’s probably resting, as you should be.”

“I will, after I check on him,” Bruce leaned forward and tried to stand up but Selina pushed him back down.

“I’ll go, you just stay here,” She said and quietly walked over to Alfred’s room. She softly opened the door and slipped inside. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the dimness of the room. Once she could see, she was able to confirm that Alfred was indeed sleeping soundly, his breathing slow and steady.

Satisfied, Selina slipped back out into the hall. She started to reassure Bruce that Alfred was fine, but then she got a good look at him. Bruce seemed to be sleeping just as soundly as his guardian was. She hesitated in the hall, now would be as good of a time as any to slip away, but she just couldn’t seem to make herself walk away. She didn’t want to leave Bruce there by himself with his guardian out of commission and Jeremiah a few doors down.

Selina sat back down in her spot next to Bruce. When her arm brushed his, he leaned over and his head rested on her shoulder. He either wasn’t fully asleep, or had somehow sensed her presence in his sleep, but either way, Selina was okay with it. She leaned her cheek on the top of his head and closed her own eyes, content to spend a bit more time with Bruce.

*****

“Jeremiah, no!” She was woken up by Bruce’s hoarse scream. The boy launched himself to his feet and held up his fists in a defensive position.

“Bruce, it’s okay!” Selina said, standing up to face him, but making sure to stand out of arm's reach. She saw the sleep and confusion leave his eyes to be quickly replaced by recognition. 

“I had this horrible dream,” Bruce said. He unclenched his fists and ran his hands through his hair. He looked back towards the room that Jeremiah was in. “He wanted so desperately to be connected to me in some way. He didn’t much care how. He wanted to get in my head and stay there. I told him that would never happen and that he was nothing to me, but I lied. He is in my head, Selina, and I’m not sure if that is ever going to change,” Bruce spoke in an almost pleading voice as if he was asking her to help him not feel that way.

“Bruce, you said it yourself, Jeremiah has no activity in his brain,” Selina reminded him, taking a step closer now that she was sure he wasn’t going to lash out.

“Yeah, but-”

“But nothing, it’s over. The only power he has over you now is the power you let him have. So don’t let him win. Just keep pretending that he is nothing to you and pretty soon he will be.”

“It’s not that easy…” Bruce muttered.

“Maybe not, but you owe it to yourself and the memory of your parents to try.”

“I can’t stop thinking about the night that they were killed, only now those memories are mixed together with the ones from tonight. It’s exactly what he wanted. I see my parents getting shot and then right after I see Jim and Lee dying.”

“You saved Jim and Lee, Bruce. And Jeremiah had nothing to do with your parents' deaths,” Selina was trying desperately to get him off of the current train of thought. After all of this, she didn’t want Jeremiah to win. “You stopped him, Bruce.” She took his hands in her own and squeezed them slightly.

“For now,” Bruce responded dryly.

“Forever, and it would probably be a lot easier to think about this logically if you got a good night’s sleep. Have you slept since Alfred was taken?” Selina asked. She knew him well enough to know the answer to that. Bruce would never waste time sleeping if he thought Alfred was in danger.

“A bit,” He answered.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Look, I know you ain’t gonna leave this hospital, but when I was in Alfred’s room, I noticed that he doesn’t have a roommate so there is a perfectly good bed sitting unused. I suggest you take advantage of it and get some rest.”

“Okay,” Bruce said simply. The combination of being able to stay near Alfred and his exhaustion made him agree quickly to her proposal. She took his hand and led him into Alfred’s room. Bruce sat on the bed and started taking off his boots while Selina looked around the room for an extra blanket.

She found one and returned to his side. Bruce was lying on the bed and looked like he was already half asleep. Selina covered him in the blanket, and because she had very little resolve when it came to Bruce at the moment, kissed him on the cheek. Bruce’s eyes widened in surprise and he gave her a small smile.

“I’ll come back and visit in the morning. Get some sleep,” She whispered.

“G’night, Selina,” Bruce sighed and closed his eyes again. Selina backed away slowly as he fell quickly asleep. By the time she got to the door, his breathing was slow and even. Selina started to open the door but then changed her mind. Instead, she dropped into the chair in the corner of the room.

If Bruce had another nightmare, she wanted to be there so Alfred wasn’t the one who had to deal with it. Besides, the quiet sound of the two males breathing was kind of soothing. Telling herself that she would wake up and leave before Bruce woke up in the morning, she settled herself into the chair and closed her eyes. If anybody asked, she would just say she was too lazy to go home and sleep. She would never tell anyone the truth that she had stayed because she was worried and feeling protective over Bruce Wayne. That was not the Selina Kyle way.

Selina snuck one more look at Bruce before closing her eyes again when she saw that he was safe and sound asleep. And with the thought that she would do everything in her power to keep it that way, she also fell asleep.


End file.
